Small local farms finding that diversifying is key to their survival

Ice cream, artisan cheese, sunset concerts, wellness fairs and weddings aren’t the usual “products” that come to mind when one thinks of farms. But for today’s family farms, diversity is the key to survival. When James and Agnes Simcock founded Simcock Farms in Swansea 128 years...

Ice cream, artisan cheese, sunset concerts, wellness fairs and weddings aren’t the usual “products” that come to mind when one thinks of farms. But for today’s family farms, diversity is the key to survival.

When James and Agnes Simcock founded Simcock Farms in Swansea 128 years ago, they likely never imagined that one day, bellydancers would be a farm attraction. But for its current owners, a recent wellness fair — complete with belly dancers, psychics and reiki practitioners — was one more way to keep the family farm afloat.

“It’s diversity or die. You have to do these types of things to survive,” said Beverlyann Simcock, owner of the farm at 361 Marvel St.

A concert violinist and former teacher, Simcock said she called her creative side into action and went into agritourism when she and her husband, Jim, purchased the family farm from his parents 12 years ago.

The farm already had an ice cream stand and it continues to be a big draw for local families and ice cream lovers. But now there’s also rescued farm animals for the kids to enjoy and plenty of events to bring visitors out to the farm.

On Tuesdays, motorcyclists are invited to stop in for Two Wheel Tuesdays, and Wednesdays are Cool Car Nights. They also host archery events and a variety of fundraisers.

The agritourism at Simcock Farm also includes pick-your-own plum tomatoes, school tours and the usual fall farm activities: hayrides, a corn maze, and pick-your-own pumpkins.

Another draw is the farmstand store, where the produce grown on the farm is sold along with canned and pickled items from northeastern producers. Simcock said she also pickles produce grown on the farm and she makes baked goods that are for sale at the store later in the season.

The produce grown on the farm’s 37 acres is also sold wholesale to restaurants and markets, but the dairy cows that were once a fixture on the farm were all sold in 2003 because they couldn’t afford to keep them, she said.

“Farming is a huge gamble,” she said in reference to this year’s rainy spring, the summer’s fluctuating hot and cool weather and the other unforeseen conditions that impact the farm. “One year, the deer came in and ate all the green stuff, and then they came back and ate all the red stuff.”

There’s also the impact of fewer people cooking their own food these days, along with backyard gardeners who grow their own produce as well as enough to supply their neighborhoods, Simcock said.

And for those who do want fresh-picked produce from the farm without the trip out to the pastoral property, she also instituted the Simcock Express, a home-delivery service that serves Somerset, Swansea and Fall River customers.

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“All this other stuff is what keeps the farm going. You have to think of other ways to keep the farm viable,” she said.

BRIDES AND BUTTERNUT SQUASH

Butternut squash and cranberries are the two main products at Chamberlain Farms in Berkley, but weddings, events, fundraisers and agritourism also go a long way toward keeping this second-generation family farm in business.

Jackie Chamberlain, wife of second-generation farmer Bob Chamberlain, said they’ve done it all at the farm over the years: ice cream, a farmstand, selling squash out of the back of a flatbed truck, and, more recently, Friday night buffet dinners.

The buffet dinners were a big hit. In fact, they became so popular that the last one a couple weeks ago had a two-hour wait. Rather than dealing with the “unknown” every weekend, Chamberlain said she stopped doing the buffets in favor of weddings and other functions with a pre-determined amount of people.

In 2006, she had a wooden pavilion built on the property overlooking the pond to enhance the farm, which dates back to the Quaker era as a venue. The rustic pavilion and an adjoining tent, complete with chandeliers, can accommodate up to 200 people.

They no longer sell ice cream or produce at the farm stand, but in the fall, the farm is bustling with a corn maze, pumpkin picking, school and Scouts tours, and even tourists from Europe stopping in to visit the cranberry bog during the harvest.

“I feel that the scenery is as much of a commodity as what we pull out of the ground. I’ve been able to create a business plan that’s going to help sustain the farm,” she said of the farm that her husband’s parents, Almer and Harriet Chamberlain, bought in 1969. “Everyone who comes here leaves with a better sense of the farm.”

Butternut squash is grown on 26 acres of the property along with 15 acres of hay, an acre of pumpkins, and three-quarters of an acre used to grow produce for the events at the farm. There’s also 15 acres of cranberry bogs that are harvested and sold to two cranberry companies: Ocean Spray and Decas.

The farm’s butternut squash is now sold wholesale to some local supermarkets, but most of it is wholesaled to the Kettle Cuisine soup company for its butternut squash soup.

The farm has also become more viable as a “producer,” she said, by peeling and bagging the thousands of pounds of squash picked every week. “That’s considered to be a value-added product; when you take a raw product and turn it into something else. The idea is to get the long dollar, not the short dollar, by cutting out the middleman,” she said.

The farm’s butternut squash and cranberry business was already viable, but Chamberlain said she didn’t want to spend her time picking butternut squash so she developed her own business plan capitalizing on the farm’s scenic open spaces as a commodity.

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“This is a full-fledged, functioning farm. It’s year-round, 24/7. This is it — sink or swim — and agritourism has helped to shore it up,” she said.

WINE, BEER AND TUNES

As a vineyard on the Coastal Wine Trail, the Russell family’s Westport Rivers Vineyard and Winery at 417 Hixbridge Road, Westport, has long been a destination for wine lovers. And its wines have garnered enough awards and critical accolades over the years to make a French winery say “Oh là là.”

The vineyard’s sister company, Buzzards Bay Brewing, also has its own strong fan base and years of success behind it. Buzzards Bay owner and brewer Bill Russell, son of Westport Vineyards founders Bob and Carol Russell, is celebrating the 15-year anniversary of the release of its first beer, Olde Buzzard Pale Ale, this year.

To add to the success of the farm’s wines and beers, the vineyard also promotes itself as a venue through its membership in the Coastal Wine Trail and events such as its Friday Sunset Music Series in the summer, and family-friendly activities in the fall.

“These types of things have always been on our radar,” Bill Russell said. “Some farms have drive-by traffic, but we’re out in the middle of Westport and we don’t have that. It’s a way for people to come out and find us.”

One of the most effective promotions of the farm, he said, has been the Coastal Wine Trail. Comprising a group of vineyards and wineries stretching from Newport, R.I., to New Bedford, the Coastal Wine Trail markets the vineyards as agritourism destinations.

The Coastal Wine Trail’s yearly kickoff — a day to enjoy local wines, cheese, breads and chocolates — has become so popular, he said, that its event this year in June was split into two sessions to accommodate the demand for tickets.

The state Department of Agriculture also promotes the vineyard through its Wine and Cheese Trail initiative. In the fall, the farm has an array of family-friendly activities such as hayrides, a petting zoo and its big open house held the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Now in its sixth year, the Sunset Music Series, featuring local favorite bands, also brings a varied group of people out to the farm.

“We started the Friday night series as a way to get people out here. Families come out; kids run around; and the scenery at sunset is beautiful. People just enjoy coming out here and it helps people get to know who we are,” he said. “We’re a family business. And it reminds people that we’re a farm.”

DAIRY GONE GOURMET

Barbara Hanley was a on a mission to save Westport’s dairy farms when she approached the Santos brothers, twins Kevin and Karl, and twins Arthur and Norman, with a plan to help them save their third-generation, family-run dairy farm in Westport by using the milk to make artisanal cheese.

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Federal regulations that set the rates at which the farms can sell milk work for larger farms in other parts of the country, she said, but the rates have resulted in the loss of local dairy farms. “They might get paid $12 to $20 per 100 pounds of milk, but it might cost them $24 to produce,” she said.

The goal, she said, is to use as much milk as possible to make cheese, which can be sold for a higher profit. Last year, 60 percent of the milk was used for cheese, and this year, she expects that to increase to 70 percent.

What she thought would happen when she set about on what she called her “holy mission” to save the Santos’ farm with the cheese hasn’t been fully realized several years into the partnership.

“None of us have taken a paycheck yet. We’re making money, but we’re putting it back into the business,” she said. “Back then, I thought everyone knew we were on this holy mission and they’d be knocking down the doors to buy the cheese.”

Made under the Shy Brothers label, so named for the shy Santos brothers, they first began making thimble-shaped Hannahbells, an artisanal cheese in the classic French flavor, and three other flavors: rosemary, lavender and shallot. The cloumage, a curd cheese similar in texture to a sour cream or marscarpone, is the brand’s second cheese.

Sold through the company’s website, markets and farmers markets, the cheeses have garnered numerous awards and praise from chefs. The cloumage, a cheese that holds up to savory and sweet flavors, has become the darling of chefs in this area, as well as in some of the better-known restaurants in New York, she said.

Hannahbells, a cheese that she said people seem to either love or hate, was their original choice because it was something different in a market dominated with cheddars. “It was a double-edged sword. Either we do a cheddar where there’s lots of competition, or we pick something that nobody was doing,” she said. “In 2007, we sold our first cheese and I thought we’d be instantly successful. I was unbelievably naïve.”

Though it hasn’t caught on to the extent she originally expected, the business has been profitable and continues to grow, she said. “The business is growing in a healthy way. If it had grown the way I expected it to back then, we wouldn’t have been able to handle it. It would have been a nightmare.”

Nowadays, the lessons Hanley and the Santos brothers have learned over the years in their path to maintaining the family farm and growing the artisan cheese business are helping other dairy farmers become cheesemakers through the Massachusetts Cheese Guild. Hanley is the president of the guild, an organization aimed at promoting the cheese industry within the state.

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“There’s an unbelievable learning curve to get into this business, and we pledged when we got into it, that we’d share the information with others,” she said.